The Base
by Cobra of England
Summary: When the Big MT is hurled into the Mass Effect galaxy after a experiment goes wrong, how will the sudden influx of new, startling (and horrorific) technology affect the galaxy? Especally as the Council aren't happy with any of it and it turns out Krogan like Psycho more than anything else. A bit Crack... But not much.
1. Arrival

A/N: This is a side project so it won't be updated frequently unless my other story hits a dead end so this will be written while I'm trying to figure a way to continue my main project.

* * *

"Klein, X-2 is ready?"

"YES,IT IS LOBOTOMITE, THE "UBER-TRANSPORTALPONDER" IS PREPARED FOR ACTIVATION!"

"0, is 1's army mobilised?"

"One is ready for anything, lobotomite"

"47 and 31, is Yangtze up?"

"Yangtze is online boss, but why exactly does the Big MT need a teleportation device? I mean, seriously boss, we've already rebuilt and pacified the place as well as turning it into the most well defended site in the world other than the Sierra Madre, does it need a teleporter as well?"

"47, you are the leader of the Lobotomite Army, and what was the first rule you learned?"

"Never question the Think Tank?" 47 said, knowing what would come next.

"Exactly. And who is the leader of the Think Tank?"

"You are, Boss."

"So don't question my decisions or I'll have the Ghost Army tear you to shreds"

He could see 47 paleing at the mention of the Ghost Army.

"Dala, all shields are up?"

"Of course they are" Dala purred "I must do another radar scan sometime though..."

"No need to go there Dala, Mobius, robo-scorpions online?"

"My robo-scorpions will conquer all in the name of all that is MOBIUS!"

The Boss sighed. He had regretted leaving Mobius alive but his robo-scorpions were tough and the Ghost Army was his idea...

It had been a year since Hoover Dam. And like the first, it was a stalemate of epic proportions. On one side stood the NCR, the Brotherhood of Steel and the Enclave Remanants against Caesar's Legion, the Boomers and the Great Kahns. Mr House had stayed neutral, instead keeping his forces around New Vegas and repelling Benny and Yes Man as well as the Omertas. Many died, and no one won. Even luck worked against both he, changed the course of the missiles of the Divide to hit both the NCR and Legion. He was called the Courier by some, but by the people of the Big MT he was known as the Boss.

And as he had forsaken the Wastes for the Big MT, he forgot his name. The Big MT was pacified, the Lobotomites becoming citizens, the creatures driven out and the Y-17 harnesses being put to a more useful purpose...

The research from experiments gone awry, like Sierra Madre and the Divide, was put into making useful things and the Saturnite alloy, combined with the Lobotomite's cyborg enhancements and designs for Hellfire Armour along with weapons such as the LAER, the Holorifle prototypes and protonic weapons, soon earned the Lobotomite army a reputation for being nigh invincible in a one-on-one fight with any existing army.

"Borous, cyber-dogs ready?"

"As always"

"Everything seems ready, 8, activate target finder."

A bunch of robotic sounds came from 8's ruined voice processor.

"Klein, activate the Uber-Transportalponder!"

"ACTIVATING THE UBER-TRANSPORTALPONDER!"

"Er, Boss! Massive energy spike in X-2 and Y-0!"

"31, regulate the power! 8, compensate for energy surge. 0, 1 and Borous, all units on standby. Dala, strengthen the field and activate the fields in the tunnels. 19, prepare X-7A for firing. Klein, update?"

"UPDATE, LOBOTOMITE? ON WHAT?"

"The current location of the Big MT!"

"Er... Boss?"

"What is it, 37?"

"You might want to look outside."

He turned to find stars gazing back at him.

"Holy Shit!"

"My exact thoughts Boss, my exact thoughts."

The Boss sprinted into the elevator that would take him down to the Think Tank from his quarters in the Sink.

* * *

"Klein, you said there was only a small margin of error!"

"IT APPEARS I WAS WRONG, LOBOTOMITE. BUT THAT IS NOT THE WORST NEWS. IT APPEARS THAT NOT ONLY THE DISTANCE IS AFFECTEDED BY THE POWER LEVEL OF THE TRANSPORTALPONDER, IT APPEARS DIMENSION IS AS WELL"

"Shit. Any way back?"

"NEGATIVE. TRANSPORTALPONDERS ONLY USUALLY WORK IN ONE DIMENSION. WE WOULD HAVE TO CAUSE ANOTHER CATASTROPHIC SYSTEM FAILURE AND EVEN IF THAT DOES MAKE US CHANGE DIMENSION, THERE IS ONLY A MINISUCLE CHANCE WE WOULD ARRIVE IN OUR DIMENSION.

EVEN IF THE CHANCE WAS LARGER, THE ONE WE USED TO GET HERE IS CURRENTLY DESTROYED AND THE X-2 ANTANNE IS TOO BADLY DAMAGED FOR DOING THAT. IT CAN STILL TRANSMIT AND RECIEVE, HOWEVER. AND WE CAN'T BUILD ANOTHER AS IT REQUIRES A LARGER AMOUNT OF COILS THAN WE CURRENTLY HAVE AND WE DON'T HAVE THE SCHEMATICS AS WE..ER...STOL...WAIT, PROCURED FROM A DUBIOUS EBAY ACCOUNT FOR FREE AND HAVEN'T BEEN ABLE TO REVERSE-ENGINEER THEM."

"8, pick whatever frequencyes will go furthest and broardcast a distress message on them.

Mobius, see what you can do about propelling this lump of rock through space. Dala, get that cloaking shield online. Klein, I want everything mobilised. Everything. Even the Cloud- and Holo-missiles."

* * *

"Sir, we've got a unknown contact broadcasting a distress signal on all frequencies"

"Location?"

"Dead Ahead."

"Let's go get some more slaves then!" The Batarian smiled.


	2. Unethical Research, Part 1

"Missile! Or I think it is..."

"All hands, brace for impact!"

In a anti-climatic moment, nothing happened.

"Engeneering, go to the impact point. Bridge, back to work!"

The Batarian slavers grudgingly went back to their stations.

* * *

It had not been a good day for Tarak. After a failed raid on a Alliance colony and being pursued by one of the Alliances best ships, the last thing he needed was a undetonated missile in the hanger bay.

"This was ment to be quick!" he muttered angrily to himself as he strode into the hanger.

He noticed the missile immedately. It appeared to look like a scorpion, complete with legs and tail. It had four glowing blue nodes on the back, explosives he presumed.

One of the legs twitched.

He stared at it as it began to rise to its feet and the nodes glowed brighter. The ghostly forms of four humans appeared in the hanger. There was a sound like the crack of a slave whip and he saw no more.

* * *

"Holo-missile is aboard Boss and beginning extermination procedure."

"Good shot 23, have the holo-missile proceed. Dala, deactivate the radar fence. Klein, see if you can gain control of the ship via the Holo-missile."

* * *

He couldn't believe it. His whole crew, slaughtered in a matter of minutes by the strange scorpion-missile.

A message came over the COM line.

"Suvivor, if you wish to live, pilot the ship into the base over the hills. You will not be harmed. Land at the following location "

A stream of data followed

This was too good to be true. But when the only other option is death, many would take anything in its place.

* * *

"Boss, the ship is heading for Z-44."

"Send a Lobotomite over with orders to eliminate the survivor. Quickly."

* * *

22 walked towards the spaceship as the alien walked out. There was the sound of a plasma discharge and the alien crumpled to the ground, dead. 22 continued towards the ship and when he reached the corpse, he said, "We did not require you alive, only your ship."

* * *

"Think Tank, Lobotomites. You all know what has happened so I will not say any more except we are stuck here with no way back. However, we will continue doing what Big Mountain has always done: explore the boundaries do Science!" The Bosses voice announced over the COM system.

He turned away from the microphone and said to the assembled Think Tank "Right. We've got a intact alien ship with weapons. Mobius, study those, Dala, see what they do for energy shields and the like, 0 will look at their propulsion systems and Borous will go back to his favourite pastime of biology while 8 will deal with communications. Klein, I'm appointing you chief of the Think Tank and to assist in any fields where progress is lacking."

The Think Tank scurried to their stations, ready and eager to begin analysing the first new test subjects they'd had in a while.

"Sir, we've lost the slavers."

"Joker, how exactly can a ship vanish?"

"It shouldn't be able to. Unless it has a stealth drive like the Normandy."

"And how exactly would a slaver have a stealth drive?"

"It shouldn't"

"Exactly. Take us in towards the site of the dissapearence."

"Commander, I'm picking up a distress signal. It appears to be coming from the same place the slaver vanished."

"Is it the slavers?"

"No, it matches no known distress frequencies. In fact, it's been broadcast over all frequencies"

"Take us in, Joker. But no shooting."

"Boring as usual then, Commander"

* * *

"Boss, I've got a unidentified ship moving in towards us. It should be in visual range... Now"

* * *

"Holy shit!"

"Language, Joker."

"Sorry, it's just of all the things I expect to find in space, a small crater isn't one of them. Especially when radar isn't picking it up and it has buildings inside!"

Sure enough, there were buildings inside. Two massive domes, a massive transmitter array and a load of smaller buildings were contained inside the crater.

"Commander, we've got a transmission from the base!"

"Play it Joker."

"This is Big MT to unidentified ship, if your looking for the other ship, it's ours now. Unless you want to talk, fuck off."

"We want to talk" Shepard said hastily, not wanting to antagonise the owners of the base.

"Land at X-7B, it's our diplomatic landing pad. We're sending you the location now. And how do you like unethical research?"

"Hate it. Especially on live subjects"

Shepard could have sworn he heard a voice on the other end say "Oh shit"


	3. Unethical Research, Part 2

"Think Tank- we have a problem."

"What is it? The power of my SCIENCE conquers all!

"It can't be solved by science, Mobius. It appears the Commander of the incoming vessel has a dislike for "Unethical research". Judging from that "Codex" recovered from the alien ship, what we do here goes way beyond the bounds of "Unethical" into " Punishable by death". We can't let the Commander work out the truth. Any ideas?"

"THE LOBOTOMITE SPEAKS SENSE. WE MUST HIDE OUR... RESEARCH SUBJECTS AND RESULTS."

"I could awe them with the power of my SCIENCE!" Mobius suggested.

"What about the Lobotomites?"

"They follow me, Dala. There is no need to worry about them. Any other ideas otherwise we'll have to go with Mobius's?"

There were no more ideas from the Think Tank.

"Awe them with science it is then. Mobilise the Ghost Army."

* * *

Shepard had expected a welcoming delagation, but this was just taking it too far.

Along the concrete path from their landing site to what he presumed was the main building, stood lines of robotic scorpions and... Were those skeletons in old spacesuits? What kind of place was this? He knew of some fairly nasty projects like those supposedly carried out by Cerberus, but using skeletons to fight? And human skeletons at that! This place pushed ethics completely out the window.

"Tali, Mordin, you better see this" Shepard shouted to his crew, who were still in the Normandy.

The two of them walked out and noticed what Shepard was talking about immediately.

"Keelah..."

"Human skeletons in antiquitated spacesuits and carrying unidentified weapons. Robotic scorpions. These people obviously know what their doing."

"What's that?" Tali noticed a strange blue-glowing node in the pavement and bent down to examine it.

"Don't touch the emmiter!"

A... Human? Was running down the path towards them, waving his arms.

"You don't want to die, do you?"

The human reached them and interdouced himself. "I'm 22, second in command of the Lobotomite army, and the last thing your friend here wants to do is touch one of those!"

"What are they?" Tali asked, curious about the emmiter.

"Hologram projectors._ Defence_ hologram projectors. You activate that and you'd be torn to atoms in a matter of seconds. The Think Tank can explain better than I can. Follow me."

The "Lobotomite" that looked exactly like a human, walked towards the central dome which was beginning to glow blue as a simulated night began.

Shepard and the rest followed 22, idly musing amongst themselves about Lobotomites and what happened to the slaves.

"22, what is a Lobotomite? I mean, you look exactly like humans." Tali asked.

"Lobotomites, technically, are humans. On a genetic level. Otherwise, we are completely different from them" 22 spat, making his views on humans obvious. "We have been, well, to call it cybernetics is a understatement. Think of it as being upgraded."

"What do you mean, upgraded?"

"Enhancements to all the basic things such as strength, agility and the like, coupled with sub-dermal armour, purifiers and the fact that the three major organs are replaced with mechanical counterparts and our bones are strengthened with Saturnite."

"Mechanical organs?" Mordin asked.

"Yes, our heart, brain and spine have all been replaced with mechanical parts that do exactly the same thing as the living counterpart."

"Could these be done on a regular human?" Tali asked, eyeing up Shepard.

"No. Without a gunshot to a certain part of the brain it is impossible. And although that part of the brain can be removed, it must be carried out with the occupant awake. And it is extremely painful. We have it done at birth or in the case of the Orginals like me, we had it done while we were part of the Lobotomisation slave circuit so we felt nothing."

"Intresting..." Mordin mused.

The small party walked up to the main doors where 22 said- "From here on you go on alone. Don't offend the Boss or the the Think Tank too much- there's a pacification field so only the Think Tank and the Boss can draw weapons. And there are the holograms. Four of them massacred that ship you were chasing. You don't want to know what they'd do to you if you anger the Think Tank. The lives of you and your crew are on the line, Commander. Don't screw up."

With that, 22 left them walking into the Sink, fully aware of the consequences if they failed.


	4. Unethical Research, Part 3

The elevator ride to the Think Tank was... Disconcerting. For starters, the music seemed to belong to a past era. Then there was 22's mysterious advice. How can they threaten my crew? We have a ship and they don't, we can just fly out at any time, Shepard mused silently.

Mordin was looking at it all from the point of a scientist and spy. See what you can discover and get out alive. It had been difficult before, but these people obviously took their security very seriously. But some of the things here went so far beyond Council law that if word ever got out to them, well, suffice to say it wouldn't be pretty for either side.

When Shepard and the rest of his team arrived at the Think Tank, they saw one of the strangest sights in their lives. A lone human (or Lobotomite) was sitting in a chair, relaxing while five of the strangest robots Shepard had ever seen were hovering nearby. These strange robots were made even stranger by the fact that they appeared to contain brains.

The lone human spoke "Sit down Commander, we have much to discuss."

Shepard and his crew pulled up chairs and set about the business at hand.

"Who are you?" Shepard asked.

"I have had many names and titles. My birth name has long been forgotten but you may call me Boss. It serves well enough as a name for now"

"Well, Boss, how exactly did you and this "Big MT" appear in this galaxy with all of these illegal technologies without being shut down?"

"I will answer if you answer a question. Why are the technologies here illegal?"

"Their capacity for destruction is unsurpassed by any other known technologies.

"I can understand that. You do realise though, that we will not shut down because the Council tells us to. As a answer to your question, I will let Dr Klein speak."

One of the robots came forwards. "AS THE LOBOTOMITE HAS POINTED OUT, SOME OF THE TECHNOLOGY HERE IS... QUITE DESTRUCTIVE. ONE OF OUR MAIN PROJECTS, CALLED THE "UBER-TRANSPORTALPONDER" RECENTLY BACKFIRED DUE TO A ENERGY SPIKE IN OUR POWER GENERATION FACILITY. THIS DEVICE WAS A TELEPORTER DESIGNED TO MOVE THE BIG MT ANYWHERE. SMALLER VERSIONS TELEPORTING PEOPLE BETWEEN PLACES HAVE WORKED SO WE UPSIZED IT. IT MALFUNCTIONED SEVERELY, TELEPORTING US INTO A ALTERNATE DIMENSION JUDGING BY THE FACT THAT IT IS COMPLETELY DESTROYED."

"You claim to be from a alternate dimension. Prove it."

"You heard of plasma, laser or pulse weaponry? Or power armour? Weaponised holograms? The Cloud? Radar fences? Deathclaws?"

"Nope"

"Exactly. Now Commander, I am offering you a simple choice. You walk out of here, let Dala slice out parts of you and your crews memories and we forget this happened. No one is any wiser. Or, you refuse, and I have to kill you."

"Why? You were perfectly civil a moment ago!"

"It appears this Council would attempt to destroy us. You will no doubt inform the Council, and as our cloaking field is offline and we haven't fitted engines, we are virtually defenceless."

"My crew can just fly off in the Normandy and warn the Alliance"

"Commander, are you that foolish? I have countermeasures in place to prevent that from happening. 19, load X-7A and target the Boom Town. Dala, raise the radar fence."

" What's X-7A?" Tali said.

"You are such fools. I told you to land at X-7B, yet you never ask what X-7A is. X-7A is our artillery range that is targeted at X-7B. The radar fence will prevent your ship from leaving and a Cloud missile will kill your crew in a matter of minutes! It's your choice Commander."

"How about a second option? I inform Cerberus. I don't agree with their methods but you can be sure they won't tell the Council. And as I am currently under the watch of Cerberus, I can't tell the Council either. Deal?"

"Think Tank? Is this option satisfactory?"

"IT IS, LOBOTOMITE"

"Deal"

The Boss stood up and shook Shepards hand firmly. "You may go, Commander."

The Commander and his team left, understandably shaken by how close they'd come to being massacred. It was only then that Shepard remembered that he should have asked about the slaves.

* * *

In the new X-11 Ailen Resarch Centre...

"It's good to be back to my old pastime of DNA slicing and splicing!"

The humans voice echoed through the operations chamber. A lone Asari was strapped to a operating table. She said "Why are you doing this? I thought humans rigidly stuck to Council law!"

"Who ever said I followed the law, ailen? You will die, or you may not. But Dala will be interested in these ones, I must keep one alive to send to her. Anyway, l think this should be... Intresting."

A revolving saw came down from the hatch in the ceiling along with a cruel-looking syringe . "Let's get on with it!"

The Asari screamed as the syringe was stabbed into her brain.

"Commander!"

Shepard turned around to see 22 and another Lobotomite running towards them. He sighed. "What is it, 22?"

"Bosses orders Commander. Me and 9 here" 22 gestured to the other Lobotomite. "Are to accompany you and ensure that "The Commander doesn't let his conscience get the better of him" and "Cerberus doesn't acquire our location." A understandable precaution, considering your crews... possible loyalties to others."

"I trust my crew, Lobotomite. And so should you."

22 looked like he had been punched by a krogan. "I can not let that insult stand. 9, you may do the honours."

9 drew a strange looking pistol and proceeded to shoot Shepard. In the crotch.

"We will not stand for insults to our race, Commander." Shepard was lying on the floor, groaning in pain.


	5. A New Frontier

"How exactly did you get shot in the crotch Commander? Seriously, it was one shot. You aren't telling me that these Lonotomites have weapons that powerful?"

"Shut up Chawkas, the rest of the crew really don't need to hear about this."

"They do already. Tali and Mordin explained it to everyone after I got you to the Med-bay."

"Oh shit..."

* * *

"Why exactly did you shoot the Commander in the crotch?"

"9 shot him in the crotch as he insulted the Boss. And as 9 is one of the best snipers in the Lobotomite Army, well you get the picture."

"What gun did you shoot him with? I mean, no gun can breach Shepards armour and barriers in one shot?"

"This" 22 pulled out a pulse gun and showed it to Miranda. " He's lucky 9 diddnt use one of these though." 22 pulled out a E.A LAER, formerly known as Elijahs Advanced LAER. "If he did, Shepard would be lucky to have a crotch left."

Grunt laughed at this. " I got to get one of those!"

At that point, Shepard hobbled in.

"Guess you've got to know the new arrivals then"

"Yes we have Commander. It was a... Intresting dicussion, to say the least." Miranda said. At hearing this, everyone in the room except Shepard burst out laughing.

"Yes, I was shot in the crotch at point blank range with a pistol" Shepard rubbed his groin. "And it hurt. A lot. And it's going on my next report."

9 made a pfft sound at hearing this. "If it does, i'll shoot you in the crotch with a Fat Man. You won't be walking away after that."

22 laughed at this while the rest of the crew looked confused. "A Fat Man is a tactical nuclear catapult that we use for artillery support. It's man portable but there really isn't much ammo for it as a vast majority of the mini-nukes have been used already and no one knows how to make new ones."

The crew just looked more confused. "Now can we please move off the topic of how to obliterate my crotch and on to somthing else like your strange technology that the Boss told me of?"

"Like what?"

"He claimed you are from a alternate dimension. What is the year?"

"2296, I think."

"2296? Are you sure?"

"I'm completely sure."

"Because the year is 2185"

"No it's 2296 or 219 years post-war to use the Wasteland calendar."

"Post-war? The last human war was World War 2!"

"What about the Great War? Or World War 3 as some of the Brotherhood call it."

"There was no World War 3. There nearly was after the Americans forced the Chinese out of Alaska but after that there were talks about unifying the planet and sharing resorces. Neither side liked it but with space exploration increasing afterward and scientists making more efficient electrical devices there seemed no need for a nuclear war."

"The Great War never happened?..."

"Yep."

"Holy shit. The wastes were bad enough with all of the horrors in it but..."

Shepard turned to the assembled crew. "Nothing to see here, go back to your duties."

The crew dissipated.

"I'll find you and 9 quaters. You can probabaly use the Starboard cargo hold since Zaeed is dead. Although if you have other preferences...?"

"The hold will be fine."

"Oh and Chawkas will need to give you both a medical exam after you've settled in. Welcome to the Normandy."

* * *

"YES! The power of my SCIENCE has proven itself stronger that the endless void of space!"

The Boss sighed. " I presume Mobius that you have reverse engineered the drive core?"

"Yes. Except the power of my SCIENCE has IMPROVED their puny drive core. They use a element called "Element Zero" to power their drives. We have no access to this "Element Zero" but I found a subsitute for it!"

"What?"

"There are elements that normally decay in under a second due to the size of their nucleus. Due to the manipulation of electrical and magnetic fields, I can stabilise these elements and use them to build a drive core that should work without Element Zero! These elements are expensive to produce."

"Since when has Big MT had to pay for somthing? Do it"


	6. Moving in and Setting up

"Boss, I've located a system we could use."

"Where is it?"

The Lobotomite pointed to a system deep inside Council space.

"Nith. It was home to the Krogan's main fuel producing facilities during the Krogan rebellions according to the Codex we found on the Batarian ship but otherwise it's been abandoned ever since. No one will ever find us and we can mine the gas giants for minerals as well as letting us use the old Krogan facilities."

"Perfect. Have Mobius fire up the drive and prepare for the jump."

* * *

"Be braced for a shock Doc, me and 9 have some fairly gruesome scars. And the vast majority of them are in the exact same places."

"I've seen some fairly gruesome wounds so let's get on with it"

22 quickly shed his jumpsuit and the scars underneath horrorified Chawkas.

A perfectly circular scar around the heart, what appeared to be a track of bullet scars from the left hip towards the neck going across the arm, completely cybernetic legs.

The thing that worried her the most though was that his body looked angular. There were no curves at all, just lines. There were lumps in straight lines on his back as well as a straight cut running the whole length of his spine but the most worrying part was that his completely bald head was a complete mess of scars.

"This is... Unusual. The vast majority of your scars seem too accurate to be combat wounds. Were you tortured?"

22 laughed.

"They were on purpose. Cybernetics and other implants and if you are concerned about the corners or buldges, they're implants as well but for other things such as heat dissipaters."

"Heat dissipaters inside your own body. Mordin needs to look at those and see if they can be used with mass effect weaponry. In the mean time though I'd go back to wherever your cabin is and set up."

"Be ready for 9 though- he took a missile launcher to the chest and a bullet to the knee. I only got hit by a sentry bot."

* * *

The few squatters on the old fuel platforms hadn't put up much of a fight but the state of disrepair the platforms were in was shocking, even to people from the Wasteland. Holes everywhere, atmosphere existed in only a few compartments but repairs wouldn't take long. The solar array would have to be completely rebuilt but the anti-proton facilities only required power from the solar array before they were completely functional again.

" Mobius, I've been thinking. Could you add a miniaturised "Heavy Drive" to a robo-scorpion and convert it into a fighter?"

"The power of my SCIENCE conquers all! I can do that. I wonder why I diddnt think of it before..."

The Boss walked out of X-42 and climed onto one of the trains that were on the rebuilt railway. The ride to the West tunnel was short and Klein was waiting at the end.

"AH, LOBOTOMITE, YES THESE TUNNELS CAN BE USED TO LAUNCH FIGHTERS VIA THE TRAIN NETWORK, IF THEY ARE THE RIGHT SIZE."

"Excellent."

* * *

A/N: Since several other authors have been doing Codex entries, I thought I might do a few to cover the background

The Ghost Army: After a way was found to control the Y-17 harnesses, their use as psychological weapons was unparallelled. Wastelanders, traders and raiders all soon learned to fear the sound of rattling bones that proceeded the appearance of a Y-17. After the expedition to the Sierra Madre returned with the knowledge of how to make the emmiters for the security holograms, the emmiters were mounted on Y-17's and specially designed robo-scorpions. The holograms on the Y-17's made the assembled unit look like a army of the dead, and the Ghost Army was born.


	7. A New Way

"How are you... Holy shit! Where did you get all this from?"

Shepard had been expecting to find a few guns, ammo, clothes and a bed, but not a fucking miniature armoury!

He could see two of those massive sets of black armour with nodes on the shoulders leaning against the wall, several racks of guns of which the vast majority appeared to be antiques or weapons of a completely unknown design that had been shoved against a wall forming a clear space where a holo-projector sat and 22 and 9 were playing cards.

"Standard kit, Commander. Any expedition out of the Big Empty has to carry this on the Pip-Boy."

"What's a Pip-Boy?"

"Sort of like one of those omni-tools everyone has but it also contains a atom compacter. The mass is still there though so we had to offload it before we removed our armour.

They have other features though."

"Such as?"

9 pressed a button. A grid of metal bars extended out, forming a rectangle about the size of a riot shield. A glowing blue field appeared between them.

"Energy shields, for one. They have to have fixed projectors though- don't try fitting them to armour, some of the results were... Disturbing. They also contain a cloaking device but it only lasts for a few minutes- any longer and the thermal disipaters would melt your skin."

"You said those energy shields have to have fixed projectors- could you fit the Normandy with one?"

"Possibily. The Think Tank, knowing them, have already started designing spaceships and possible weapons. It will be expensive though."

"Whatever your price is I can, or at least my backers can, pay."

"It's not money I'm after Shepard- The Boss will want a star system or two given to us. With a eezo producing planet, by the way. The Think Tank really want to study this "eezo" and the last thing that got them this interested was the Great War."

"Not even vacuum and barriers will stop the power of my SCIENCE now!"

The wall, that had been designed to mimic a warship hull, more specifically that of a dreadnought, had been torn utterly to shreds.

"Wait, I did this? Jolly clever of me, I must say. A proton cannon used as a weapon. In space? Who'd have thought it. I really am running out of Mentats though, I really must get some more."

The Boss turned away from the re-purposed anti-proton machine that Mobius had been using to create the ammunition for his proton cannon.

"0, I trust the first Atlantis is ready to enter production?"

"It is, although it would have been quicker if Klein stopped interfering and Mobius had fitted his prototypes earlier."

"Boss, 9 just got a intresting offer from the Commander"

"What is this offer?"

"We upgrade the Normandy and supply the Council with some of our legal technologies such as the vending machines and in exchange we get any two star systems that are unclaimed, freedom in our research as long as we don't go into AI research and Council membership."

"Tell 9 he's promoted to Commander of the 1st Defence battle-group and that we accept the Commanders most generous offer."

"What systems will we take?"

"Isn't it a bit obvious 47? Nith and one other nearby..."

"I'll begin forming a delegation."

Atlantis Battlecrusier: A attempt to combine the firepower of a dreadnought with the speed of a cruiser, the Atlantis fills neither role. With not enough firepower to be a dreadnought and not fast enough to be a cruiser, the vast majority of the Council races laughed at these ships that filled no role. That all changed when the Atlantis's versatility was shown in a skirmish against the Turians over a misunderstanding. Atlantis's feature several large fighter bays, two broardside gun decks loaded with tesla cannon batteries, energy shielding, broardside missile launchers and forward torpedo launchers with meter-thick Saturnite armour plating.

Another feature of the Atlantis is how many sub-classes there are.

Dragon-class: Has a single massive cannon that has enough recoil that all other ship-to-ship weapons have been removed.

Medusa-class: Acts as a carrier but with ship-to-ship weaponry.

Hydra-class: Features double the normal protective measures but at a slower speed with less weaponry.

Minotaur-class: Features massive protective measures and engines that make it a perfect rammer ship but has no conventional weapons.


	8. Fatal Error

A/N: This story is now my main project! 22 and 9 are coming back next chapter, for now watch the Turians get their asses handed to them, deep fried with BBQ sauce.

* * *

"There's one catch to a otherwise perfect deal Boss."

"What? I don't see any catches."

"Except that for us to be granted two systems would require us to reveal our location to the Council."

"Although if we supply them with the vending machines..."

"Yes, the vending machines must be given as a sweetener so the Council don't think we're ripping them off."

* * *

CDEM HQ, Dranek system.

" Sir, we have unidentified blips from the Nith system."

"Why would anyone go to the Nith system?"

"I don't know Sir but shouldn't we send a force to check it out?"

"Get Patrol Group 4 and have them ready to launch. I'll be leading the group myself. It's been too long since I've had any form of combat."

* * *

"Er, Boss, I've got incoming signatures from mass effect drives. 2 cruisers and 5 frigates."

"Markings?"

"Council, I guess."

"Prepare all of the Scorpio fighters for launch, have all missiles primed and have the _Mojave, Seattle _and _Red Dragon _launched. I don't want these aliens to know what hit them!"

"Yes, Boss."

* * *

The Turian fleet disengaged from FTL and their sensors swiftly picked up the 2 _Atlantis_ Battlecrusiers speeding towards them through the vaccuum.

"Are those dreadnoughts?"

"No, fortunately, Sir. They are moving too fast and they are too small for dreadnoughts."

"They're too big for cruisers though... Problems like this can be dealt with by the analysts and tacticians. All ships, prepare to fire on my mark!"

* * *

"Mark"

The _Atlantises _suddenly heaved to starboard, causing the shots from the frigates and the Thanix cannon shots from the cruisers to go zooming straight past.

The Turian commander smiled. These strange ships had just pulled a manuvuer that although it would cause the first salvo of shots to miss, it rendered the ship unable to fire back as their main weapon would be pointing the wrong way.

That was when he saw the armour plating on each side slid back, revealing massive gun and missile batteries.

"Sir, another ship has just come out from behind us."

"Range?"

"15 thousand or so kilometres. Not even a dreadnought could hit us at that range. I'm detecting a massive build-up of energy inside all three ships Sir."

There was a sound like a small planet was being blown apart.

One of the frigates had been utterly obliterated. There was no trace of it, not even rubble.

* * *

"It appears the super-proton cannon works."

* * *

"What the hell was that?"

"I don't know Sir, but we should retre... Sir, I'm receiving a transmission from one of the ships!"

"Put it on screen."

The hazy image of a... Was that a human? Appeared on screen.

"You're a bit late, Council. You arrived here yesterday, we'd have been sitting ducks. And now you are facing utter obliteration at the hands of the _Red Dragon__. _So I'll be nice and offer you terms. You surrender your ships and we deposit you on your homeworld. No one will be harmed unless they harm us first. If you refuse, we'll kill you and take your ships anyway."

The Turian spat. "I don't like these terms, human, but I agree. I grudgingly accept your terms. Transport us to the Citadel, I don't want to arrive on Palaven in this much shame."

* * *

Proton cannon: The proton cannon is mounted on Dragon-class Atlantises as they require so much power that no other weapons can be operated by the ship. They work by firing a massive block of protons with a cover of electrons that keep the projectile together before impact. On impact, the massive positive charge realeased tears the atoms of the opposing ship apart.

Heavy Element Drive: Created when the Big MT had no access to eezo, the heavy element drive operates on the same princeiple but instead uses a element so massive it must be syntheticly made and stabilised through the use of massive electrical and magnetic charges. While eezo creates a mass effect field, reducing the mass of a ship, a heavy element drive instead of reducing the mass of a ship, uses the heavy elements constant state of decay and restabalization to produce a massive amount of force.

It is significantly faster than a mass effect drive but it is unable to travel through mass relays. With a combination of a mass effect and heavy element drive however, speeds reach absurd proportions.


	9. Cerberus

"Shepard, T.I.M wants you. And he seems fairly irritated about somthing, so I'd get there pronto Commander."

"Tell T.I.M I'm coming. Any idea what Cerberus project has gone wrong?"

Shepard strode through the ship towards the conference room.

"It's got him riled up so either mind-controlled Krogan or more rachnni. Or AI."

"I fuckin hate those things when they go haywire. Especially with Cerberus defences and mechs."

When Shepard arrived at the conference room, the walls were already blacked out and the holographic image of T.I.M was being projected.

"What's made a complete and utter fuck-up of your plans now?"

"No apology for being late? Same Commander Shepard as always then. There has been no "utter fuck-up" of my plans, more of a... Unknown factor. You'll need to see the report for yourself."

The image changed to Emily Wong with several Turian ships hovering around a large,missile-shaped ship that Shepard diddnt recognise.

Emily spoke.

" As of a few hours ago, a small Turian fleet registered as Patrol Group 4 of the CDEM fleet arrived at the Citadel escorting a unidentified ship. This ship has already had military analysts from the Turian Heirachy and Systems Alliance baffled due to its weapon systems and apparent lack of a eezo drive core. It's size, however, is the most confusing factor.

It appears to be smaller than a dreadnought and larger than a cruiser but was able to keep pace with the Turian cruisers. The unidentified ship released several shuttles of Turian design which docked with the Citadel.

The shuttles contained the crew of the Turian vessels and had been returned to the Citadel after declining a return to Palavern according to a crew member.

The unidentified ship left soon afterwards but left us with a gift.

We are lucky to have Commander Neuros of the CDEM with us who was leading Patrol Group 4 along with Nindain Lunan, a leading Salarian expert in unidentified races. Commander, what happened out there?"

"Well, Emily, Group 1 had detected a unknown anomaly in the Nith system. I decided to lead a patrol to check it out while Group 1 continued their patrol. Upon arrival at the system, I was engaged by two of these unidentified ships. My fleet opened fire as soon as they entered range but the enemy avoided the shots and turned hard to the left. At this point I was confident of victory."

"What happened then Commander?"

"Another ship of the same look swung out from behind a gas giant, behind my fleet.

At fifteen thousand kilometres it opened fire."

"Fifteen thousand kilometres? Thats out of dreadnought range!"

"Those were my exact thoughts, when my sensor operator said he had detected a huge energy surge from that ship. One of my frigates was ripped apart. On the atomic level. There wasnt even any debris. After that I received a offer for my crew to leave unharmed in exchange for my ships. I accepted."

"Thank you Commander. Nindain, what do you think of this new race?"

"If I have to be honest, Emily." Nindain said "They seem a lot like humans were when they first encountered the Council. Fighting off the Turians? Only humans had managed that. I'm more interested in this "gift" they left with us."

"And why is that?"

"The styling seems reminiscent of the 1950's in human history but it seems to have been left behind as a temptation. If we figure what it does, that is."

The image changed to a strange device. (A/N: Yes, it's a Sierra Madre vending machine.)

"Thank you Nindain."

The hologram changed back to T.I.M's face.

"These events throw a spanner into the works. More that a spanner, a fucking nuke! Shepard, you are to go to the Nith system and attempt to have these aliens restrain their efforts in messing up my plans."

Shepard smiled.

"I can do better than that, Sir."


	10. Benefits and Costs

A/N: As Abbadon953 has pointed out, I haven't given enough credit to my followers and reviewers. You make me keep writing this!

* * *

"You are saying that you lost a frigate and had all your other ships captured? Where exactly does it say in Turian military conduct that if you face almost certain death, you surrender?"

"It doesn't, Councillor."

"It says you are to conduct a fighting retreat! Not to bow down to the enemy and accept their offer! If they offer you terms of surrender when they are winning, it means they think that unless you surrender, you will win! You are the most sorry excuse for a Turian Commander I have ever met! I bet you faked this vid just to give you a excuse to..."

"Enough, Sparatus. This is a Council session and Commander Neuros was requested to join to provide a first-hand account, not to recieve a dressing-down from you. I am sure the Turian High Command will punish him and we have already stripped him of his post as Commander of the CDEM."

"I'm sorry, Tevos. It's just... Our military being shamed like that..."

"I understand, Sparatus. Now, Commander, if you could begin your account?"

Neuros sighed and began. "I'm sure you've heard most of what happened from the news so I won't bore you with that. However, there are other things that I have not told the cameras.

First of all, during my imprisonment, I led a escape attempt."

Sparatus nodded appreciatively.

"As you can guess from the circumstances of my arrival, it failed. No one was lost during the attempt however."

"How can you not lose anyone in a escape attempt?"

"We had been given freedom of the ship and none of us had seen any signs of guards or cameras. There were turrets but they were deactivated. Me and my crew planned to seize the ship and escape."

"You were in FTL at the time?"

"Yes Councillor. After we stormed the armoury and had a test of the vast number of unusual weapons in there, we armed and armoured ourselves and made for the bridge."

"I take it this is where things go wrong?" Sparatus asked.

"Yes. On our way to the bridge, we encountered a lone robotic scorpion which identified itself as "The Warden". It demanded we return to our cells and put our "pea-shooters up our arses." Me and my crew, naturally thought we could take it out. We were wrong.

We opened fire but the shots bounced right off it. Several blue nodes came out of panels in its back and in the ceiling. Holograms of several humans in old-looking armour appeared and a energy field prevented us from advancing. The Warden told us "you are outgunned and you have no hope of winning. One of my crew fired on the energy field. It diddnt even flicker. Another fired on one of the holograms. The bullet passed straight through it. The hologram changed from blue to red and shot his foot. The same hologram pointed us back to our cells and we were disarmed by them as well."

"This is disturbing news. Valern, have you had a update on the "gift"?

"It appears to be a" Valern coughed. "Matter recombiner."

"What does it do?"

"If a certain number of, well, we'll call them chips as they look like poker chips, are inserted into the machine, the mass of those chips is reprocessed into somthing that the schematics for are contained on the machine. The schematics are for things like medicine, food, clothing and what appear to be bullets and upgrades for antique guns and the like."

"Can you reverse engineer it?" Sparatus asked, interested in its possible use to replace military rations and save millions of credits as well as improving a soldiers life.

"If we had the time, yes. However, there is one major issue: this machine, at some point, was exposed to heavy radiation as well as a toxic gas that appears to be similar to the genophage in terms of atomic and elemental composition but includes large amounts of a corrosive type of copper that none of my scientists have seen before. Except instead of destroying foetuses, it appears to corrode _anything_ that appears to be metal or organic. You wouldn't believe the precautions we had to take before we began to produce it. For testing purposes only, of course. It's a WMD worse that the Geth were to the Quarians"


	11. Threats

"The question remains- Do we go to the Council or do we let them come to us?"

"It depends Boss on whether we hide our strength and technology or awe them with it. Those POWs will have no doubt caused a lot of media speculation in the Council. The vending machine will have many interested, if they get it working. If you want my view, we wait for them and stick to Mobius's plan. They know where to find us."

"47 and Mobius are in favor of waiting. Your views, doctors?"

"MOBIUS'S PLAN, AS MUCH AS I HATE TO SAY IT, SEEMS LIKE THE BEST OPTION. I WILL NOT GO INTO AILEN TERRORTRY WITH THE BATTLEGROUP AND LEAVE THE BIG MT UNDEFENDED."

"I disagree. We cannot let the Council find out about my... Test subjects. Much better to meet them in their home terrortry where they aren't being threatened by Robo-scorpions constantly. Especially not the Wardens."

"It's better to meet them here, where I can scan them."

"£&£ #+=#~#%€~"

"I agree with Borous. We can't and shouldn't trust the Council. They shot first, after all."

"Then we stick to the plan. Borous, I'll have Wardens assigned to the holding cells and the X-8 Biological slicing station. Scorpio-fighters will be prepped in the launch tunnels. Red Dragon will be in hiding with Stealth engaged. Mojave, Bismark, Seattle and Victory will form escort while Warrior and Big Yangtze will be on outer-system patrol. Apocalapse will provide transport to the Citadel if the Council don't arrive within two weeks. I'm guessing they will arrive in the Destiny Ascension with a formidable escort. I want them to see the Apocalapse and know what they're up against."

* * *

"The question remains- Do we go to them or do we let them come to us?"

"I doubt they are willing to come to the Citadel. Peacefully at least."

"Sparatus, there is no need to go in guns blazing and wipe out a unknown species. Unless they launch a counter-attack, we don't respond."

"Sparatus, if my projections are correct, any war between us and this unknown species would result in a victory for us, but only after we suffered serious losses. Although their fleet is small, they have technologies from fields the STG scientists haven't even _h__eard_ of! According to Commander Neuros, they have weaponised holograms and some serious energy shielding. And energy weapons as well as combat robotics! What we could do with their technology..."

A Turian ran into the room. "Councilors, we're receiving a transmission from a unknown ship. It's over five times the size of the Destiny Ascension!"

"Slow down Telzolus, is it the aliens?"

"Yes, Councilor. Or we think so."

"Put them on screen."

The image of a black gas mask with glowing green eyes appeared.

"Council, you will tell no one of this transmission. You will leave the Citadel by tomorrow aboard the Destiny Ascension with a escort of no more than six vessels of which only one may be a dreadnought. You will obey, to the letter, or the Apocalapse will destroy the Citadel."

* * *

Codex Update:

Hazmat Power Armour: After the Hazmat suits were recovered from the Sierra Madre, they were swiftly incorporated as a inner skin to the already formidable Saturnite Hellfire Armour. With the addition of tesla nodes which projected a weaker form of the energy shield used to seal off doors, the armour looks as terrifying as it is effective.

The Apocalapse: Created by the Big MT as the last word in space-to-space combat, The Apocalapse is a "super-heavy battleship." Although slow, the Apocalapse features twenty broadside gun decks and four heavy-drive cores as well as numerous energy shields and layers of Saturnite armour.

The Apocalapse's main threat is not its weapons but rather that it carries VX-Tsunami APVs.


	12. New Allies

A/N: Sorry for the wait, I was having problems with exams but now I've got more free time updates should be quicker (hopefully). Ive removed Tuchanka and if anyone wishes to beta for me, PM me. It would help a lot.

* * *

"The Council Fleet has dropped out of FTL and are preparing to enter the system Boss. Should I activate defensive procedures, just in case things get hostile?"

"It wouldn't hurt. Have they brought a fleet according to our restrictions?"

"The _Destiny_, a Turian dreadnought and four Asari cruisers. It appears they have agreed with our conditions. I'll ask them to send a shuttle in with the Councilors and honour guard aboard."

"Very good 86, continue monitoring communications and the Council fleet."

* * *

"Councilors, we've received a request that you and a honour guard transfer to a orbital platform."

"Send a reply saying we'll be over there."

"Yes, Councillor."

The Asari crewmember walked away, leaving the Council alone.

"Are you sure this is a wise move Tevos? If the ailens turn hostile, they would wipe out our flagship, some of our best crews and us, the main governing body!"

"I'm sure these ailens will be reasonable, they have no reason not to."

* * *

"A shuttle has left the hanger bay, Boss."

"Divert Scorpio-fighter squads A and G to escort it into the East Tunnel."

* * *

The Council's honour guard looked out with trepidation as the Scorpio-fighters approached. They certainly looked menacing enough, looking like a oversized Earth scorpion. They pulled up alongside the shuttle and began to escort the shuttle towards a tunnel.

* * *

"Scorpio-fighters are reporting the Council shuttle is entering the East tunnel."

"Have flights A and G pull off, circle round and enter the Big MT via the North and West tunnels. Send units Q1 and J9 to the tunnel and 5th Vertibird Drop Squad."

"Roger that, Boss. One question though Boss..."

"Is it related to the meeting?"

"Sort of... Y 'see Boss, a few weeks before me, 84 and 85 were issued our cybernetic upgrades, we travelled to a pre-war bunker, way out east. By way out east, I mean DC. Me and the others had heard rumours of some miraculous water purifying machine out there, so we decided to take a look. You remember the Brotherhood?"

"Let me guess, they had taken over DC?"

"The whole place was overrun with patrols. We managed to get inside the purifier and it actually worked. They also gave the Enclave a thrashing."

"Damn right. Led by some vault-dweller called the Lone Wanderer, I think? Diddnt he die during a mis-targeted nuclear strike?"

"That's the official story. We heard the unofficial one from a pair of travellers called Paulson and Somah. Claimed some experiments in a Brotherhood base called Zeta went wrong and the whole place vanished. Apparently teleportation was involved."

"Are you saying...?"

"I am suggesting that the Lone Wanderer is alive, with a team of Brotherhood soldiers and scientists, out there."

"Well... We still need to get on with the business at hand. Are the Council in the Think Tank's room?"

"They've just arrived."

"Assemble the Think Tank, it's time to see how these ailens deal with progress without limitations."

* * *

There was nothing that could be done about the unintentional staring match between the Think Tank and the Council and their honour guard.

Soon, the leader of these "Lobotomites" arrived and sat down in a tattered looking chair in front of the Think Tank. He motioned for the Council to sit.

"I understand you have questions for me. Ask away."

Sparatus began "According to a member of the CDEM, you would have been sitting ducks if he'd arrived the day before. How long have you been in this system?"

"A week, I'm not sure. We don't really keep track of time out here."

"And where did your fleet of "battlecrusiers" come from? I diddnt see any shipyards out there."

"Our fleet was assembled from scrap in a few days in space. It's amazing what you can accomplish when there are no health and safety laws, pay and you have a colossal robotic workforce."

"You assembled this fleet of three, if not more battlecrusiers and one of the largest ships we've ever seen, in a week?"

"We did steal several Quarian factory ships when they passed nearby on a resupply run, as well as a few smugglers."

"Do the Quarians know of this?"

"No, we moved a few captured ships that we no longer needed and planted the Quarian bodies aboard and then destroyed them to simulate a pirate attack, along with the burnt-out hull of their protecting ship."

"Effective, but brutal."

"That's our philosophy."

* * *

Scorpio-fighters: Due to a lack of manpower compared to the vast majority of other spacefaring races, the Big MT had to think of a viable alternative to fighters. Their answer was a modified giant robo-scorpion fitted with a shrunken heavy element drive and small anti-proton engines. Combined with stealth fields and a powerful energy weapon, Scorpio-fighters are dangerous. Like their older relative the Robo-scorpion, they are also capable of acting in boarding and ground actions.


	13. Purgatory: Arrival

A/N: To the Flamer...

You think my story is illogical? Fine. But you dont have to go that far in expressing your opinion. I am fully aware I need a beta and I will hopefully have a volunteer soon. I could go on expressing my opinion on your overstated opinion. But people want to read stuff, not my rants which can last a long time.

Now I have finished my rant against the flamer, we can continue!

* * *

"Commander, we are approaching Purgatory and we should be arriving in around two hours."

"Good. Have the ground team assemble in the conference room. And tell those Lobotomites that they are part of the ground team since we lost Zaeed. I need to see them in action".

"Yes, Commander. Logging you out."

* * *

"All ground team members are to go to the Conference room. 22 and 9, you are now part of the ground team." EDI's synthetic voice announced over the comms, interrupting the game of poker that was occouring in the right cargo hold. 22 layed down his worthless hand of a two, a ten, a nine, a four and a 6 of diamonds. All the rest were spades. 9 layed down the 'Dead man's hand', a hand that beat all others in the rules of poker that had been devised in the Big MT. 9 rounded up the collection of chips that had become the currency of the Big MT and had his pip-boy miniaturize them.

"Guess we get to see some action then?" 22 asked.

"I hope. This is the longest I've been lazing around since the end of the Research Expeditions. And that was only because of a damaged spine after I fell down a elevator shaft." 9 replied.

"Since when did you fall down a elevator shaft? You weren't on the Red Madre expedition or any of the Coast Runs. Nor Blasted Plains or Bloody Florida either, you don't have any of the victory medals. Where exactly did you go?"

"I'll explain later. For now, haul ass to the Conference room!"

* * *

22 and 9 arrived about a minute later than everyone else and swiftly apologized before taking a spot leaning against a wall. These Lobotomites were obviously unused to the concept of meetings. Shepard spoke "As you should all now know, i've been assembling a team to go through the Omega 4 relay. The last member we have to pick up is Jack, one of the most powerful human biotics ever born. I'll let Miranda explain further."

Shepard sat, content to let his XO take over the breifing. "Jack is currently being held on Purgatory, a prison ship run by the Blue Suns. It should be a smooth pickup, but be prepared for anything. Mercs aren't exactly the most trustworthy of people."

9 cringed as soon as the term "pickup" was mentioned. Shepard gathered he had experence with "pickup" operations that had gone wrong before. He made a mental note to check out whether 9 and 22 had any combat experence and about 9's "pickup" operation before they arrived at Purgatory.

* * *

Research Expeditions- Also known as the Research Wars, The Research Expeditions were a series of expeditions to recover various technologies that had been lent out pre-war to various factions in exchange for monetry support or other resorces such as testing grounds or subjects.

Due to the fact that many of the Big MT's projects had suffered problems in the almost 300 years since the Great War that caused them to become defective or damaging like the weather control research that had been taking place at Hopeville, the Lobotomite companies and attatched robotic forces took heavy losses. The suvivors painted victory badges onto their armour and weapons for each expedition, much like medals in the NCR. Many also acquired nicknames due to circumstances invilving the nature of the research being recovered and the surrrounding enviroment.

The most dangerous expedition was not the cyborg-cazadore infested city of Wichita, nor the giant pythons that filled the ruins of Miami or even the Yao-Guai homeland in the snowy wastes of Maine. The most dangerous expedition was too close for comfort. Far too close.

Current Big MT fleet- Although the fleet may appear formidable, that is its only real use.

All of the non-captured ships in the fleet are actually little more than heavily armoured shells with crude FTL drives and small bridges and crew quaters. Even the _Red Dragon _is little more than a massive gun mounted on old railway tracks inside a armoured shell while the Apocalapse is several freighters welded together and covered with a armoured shell. These ships are actually a stop-gap measure until ships more up to the standards of the Big MT are created.


	14. Purgatory: 9's Story, Part 1

"Do you think we fooled them?" The Boss stared out into empty space as the Council shuttle departed back to the fleet.

"I'm not sure Boss. Although the... Turian and Asari seem gullible enough to be fazed by our show of 'force', the Salarian is another matter altogether. I wouldn't be suprised to find a few observation satellites left behind." 86 replied. He was obviously having trouble with the names of the ailens and not one of the many derogatory terms that sprung up when soldiers were around.

"Despatch a few patrols to clear them out once they are found."

"Yes Boss."

86 stalked back into the Sink.

The Boss stared worriedly at the screen that showed his forces current status. _Red Dragon_ only had six of its anti-proton shells left and after manufacturing problems had caused large amounts of vital machinery to be irrepairablely damaged, it would be a while before any more were available. The stop-gap ships _Apocalapse_, _Seattle _and _Mojave _would be replaced with their proper versions in two months. The two captured Turian crusiers, _Big Yangtze_ and _Warrior _were being refitted with Saturnite armour and Tesla overload/disruptor fields. _Bismarck _and _Victory,_ the two captured Turian frigates, were also undergoing similar refits. None were combat-ready.

He sighed. "Ulysees would be proud of me. Founding my own nation?" He shook his head and stared out at the empty void that would have doomed them all if not for the mysteries of the holo-containment field that kept everything where it should be and not flying off into the void. Provided a useful defence against aircraft as well.

* * *

Shepard darted into the cargo hold that had become 9 and 22's quarters. The two Lobotomites looked up from the game of... Was that poker? 22 spoke first.

"What is it now Commander?"

"I completely forgot to ask you whether either of you had any combat experience?"

Both looked at him like he was some kind of idiot.

9 explained. "Commander, in the Big MT, military service is mandatory. Everyone from the age of 12 can shoot, take apart and repair any firearm in our arsenal. If you have a talent for repairs or science, you help the Think Tank. Cooking, you become a quartermaster. Otherwise, you fight."

"What about art? Music? Entertainment?"

"What the hell is art? Music is provided by radio and poker provides entertainment."

Shepard shook his head at the two uncultured ailens.

"Anyway, combat experience?"

22 answered first, proudly. "Sixteen or so expeditions over a few thousand miles, on foot with Deathclaws, raiders and other... Things, there, back and at the destination."

He pointed to several painted marks on his armour. Each seemed to be a picture. One was a blue man surrounded by red, another a blood red star. A third was a sandstorm while the last was a series of grey scratches.

Shepard nodded. 22 must have been fighting for ten or so years non-stop for that many expeditions. Shepard turned to 9.

He simply stated "Vault 22."

Shepard would have laughed at 9's one combat mission if 22 hadn't had paled when Vault 22 was mentioned.

"You survived that hellhole?" 22 turned to Shepard, who appeared confused. "You need entertainment for the flight? Get all your crew to the mess hall. They won't want to miss this."

* * *

"Shepard, you called us here to watch a_ film_?"

"I know it sounds stupid Miranda, but if anything these two have told me is true" Shepard pointed to the Lobotomites who were standing at the back of the Mess with their primitive-seeming version of Omni-tools. "death by spacing seemed mildly pleasurable."

22 spoke. "You'll need a bit of background info first. This video is from 9's helmet cam so it may be fuzzy. It's part of a campaign known as the Research Wars which was the Lobotomites vs everything from weaponised holograms, radioactive crocodiles and a weapon on a distructive level similar to the Genophage to sandstorms that peel away any uncovered skin, a place where anything you touch kills you as painfully and horrorbly as is possible and finally vaults. This is in Vault 22, near New Vegas."

* * *

The surprisingly clear image of a metal room filled with people in armour similar to that which 9 and 22 wore appeared on the wall.

"Right. The techies have flooded the entire vault with the Cloud so everything should be dead down there but be braced for hostiles. If the info the Boss has on this place is correct, we could be walking into the biggest shitstorm since Blacklight got loose in Manhattan. 9, you've got level two. 27..." One of 9's squaddies shouted out "9's girlfriend!"

The commander continued despite the interruption. "you've got level three. 13, you take level four and 74, take your squad and the Y-17's down to level five. Move out!"

The screen changed to a similar metal corridor and 9's squaddies fanned out into the corridor which was filling with a noxious-looking red gas. A voice spoke over the radio "9, where's the Lucky Tunes?"

9 patted his Pip-Boy before saying "No reception down here, Cloud and plants must be interfering with the signal."

There was a universal groan from the team. "We're all going to die now, y'know?" one of them said.

A few minutes of walking through Cloud-filled hydrophonic labs and metal corridors without encountering any other life, 9 radioed to the commander "Level Two clear."

Soon enough the other teams radioed back similar messages.

"Team five, what's your status?"

There was only static.

"Team five, do you copy?"

More static.

"Team five presumably has gotten into trouble. Teams one and two, go down there and check it out. Three, hold the cave entrance. Four, hold the elevator shaft. Whatever's down there, I don't want it getting out."

Team one, 9's squad, was crowded into the elevator alongside Team 2, 27's squad. 9 would have fast forwarded the elevator ride and motioned for 22 to do so, but 22 simply grinned and left it running.

As the conversation couldn't be heard over the loud grinding of the elevator against the shaft, Shepard asked 9 who she was. He simply said "She left me to die in there."


	15. Purgatory: 9's Story, Part 2

"What do you mean, your girlfriend left you to die in there? How did you survive?"

"I'll let my camera tell the story."

* * *

The rusty elevator cables made a creaking sound like they could could snap at any time as the awkward elevator ride continued down into the red and green depths of Vault 22. The Commanders voice said over the in-helmet comms-

"Team one is to secure the elevator shaft, team two is to search for any signs of team five and secure the research data, and, if possible, find the NCR scientist named Keely, whoever that is as she apparently has valuable research gained from her studies. Three has secured the secondary exit and Four is acting reserve. If it gets that bad, I've got a lone Tesla Trinar up here as well that just arrived"

A squadie from 27's squad said "They lent us a _Tesla_? I hope we don't need it."

"You heard the Commander boys- Move! I want to get out of this hellhole faster than the NCR pulled out of Nevada!" 27 yelled as team two began to advance down the decrepit corridor, looking in bafflement at the large bloodstains and holes in the floor... With no bodies while team one secured the elevator shaft. 27's team continued to advance down the blood and soil stained corridor until they passed out of sight into the murky red haze that was the Cloud.

A few minutes later, the sound of screaming and gunfire could be heard. 9 motioned for two of his men to follow him into the Cloud, narrowly avoiding falling into the many strange pits in the corridor, when 27 ran into 9's field of vision and straight past him before leaping into the elevator and hitting the up button several times before the doors closed.

9 turned his camera back to the corridor, revealing that the previously empty corridor was now beginning to fill with malformed humans, covered in a green skin which reminded Shepard of the Thorian and it's slaves.

One of 9's squaddies turned and said "Shit. 9 and the rest of you, climb the shaft." He paused to check his Incenerator was loaded. "I'll be right behind you." He saluted his commander and aimed his Incenerator, all of them fully aware this was a death sentence for him.

* * *

"Who was that guy?" Garrus asked.

"66. Bravest man I ever knew. He was the last to fall in that green metallic hell."

"But I thought you were the only suvivor?"

"You'll see Garrus."

* * *

9 felt the vibrations from the wall only seconds before a green tendril leaking the Cloud tore through the shaft wall straight above him. With reflexes only battlefield experience can give he lept of the ladder into the shaft along with the few others who spotted the signs of a imminent attack. The rest were dragged off by the green tendrils into the depths of the vault to be consumed.

9 heard a sound like metal snapping and he rolled out of the shaft just as the great metal bulk of the elevator hit the bottom of the shaft, crushing his only other surviving comrades.

66 turned back to the shaft and, not questioning his commander, rammed a medical-looking bag with a needle straight into 9's arm.

9's camera was a bit worse for wear now, with a giant crack running across the screen but otherwise the quality was alright.

9 sat up, groaning before radioing the commander. "This is what's left of team one. Elevator shaft is compromised. We have confirmed hostiles in both the elevator shaft and level five. Requesting permission to proceed to secondary extraction point and reinforcements."

"Negative on the first count Lt 9. You are to recover the data and Keely's notes, as per the original objectives. Team four and the Tesla will be entering via the secondary extraction point and will rendezvous with you at the entrance to the caves. Three will hold their position. I've requested reinforcements but with the Madre expedition on, I doubt we'll get anything within three or so hours. Stay sharp and from what team three have gathered, watch the vents. Commander out."

Tesla Mech- Based off the designs for Liberty Prime, Tesla Meches are rarer than Robo-Scorpions and slower, but they make up for this with sheer firepower.

Trinar- A small, person sized mech that also has the capability to be piloted and used as armour, the Trinar mounts two E.A LAER on each arm as well as a flamethrower.

Secunda- Larger than the Trinar, and about half the size of Liberty Prime, the Secunda mounts a Tesla cannon on each arm alongside a E.A LAER.

Prime- The orginal Liberty Prime was deemed to have several weaknesses, and so the Think Tank upgraded it massively. The throwable mini-nukes have been replaced with a more powerful reactor and rocket canisters. The arms have two tesla cannon linked in to the robot on each hand with a E.A LAER in the palm. The head laser is replaced with a electronic warfare suite run by the robots coding and improved sensors while the shoulders now mount a Red Glare each for anti-air defence.

All Tesla Meches also contain Saturnite armour plating, Tesla disrupter fields and a large EMP projection device that shuts down all un-EMP shielded electronic equipment in a range depending on the size of the mech due to the power of the reactor. While the Trinar's works for around 10 meters and the Secundus for 100, the Prime's, due to its massive reactors, covers about a mile.


	16. Purgatory: 9's Story, Part 3

"We've got reserves inbound but we need to secure the data on our own? In this green hellhole? Commander really needs to get his priorities right."

"Calm down 66, this was supposed to be easy so the Commander's a bit of a rookie. At least it's not far."

The two Lobotomites walked down the metal hallway, watching for any signs of ambush. They stopped at a door, which, according to their newly-upgraded pip-boys, had their objective behind it without any enemies. The reserves were still a while away though, burning their way through the caves.

The door slid open and a grenade was tossed in. There was a loud explosion from the door and 66 and 9 took cover behind the doorframe before advancing into the now-destroyed room. 66 spotted a holo-tape, presumably the one they were looking for, and said "Damn it 9, that grenade could have destroyed the tape!"

"Those things are indestructible. Trust me."

"If you say so... We need to move."

There was the faint sound of those spore carriers charging down the corridor as the two exited the room before they unleashed a rain of fire and lasers down the hall, cutting down several before they turned and ran towards the cave entrance.

"Teams four and three, status?" 9 inquired over the radio.

"Not good 9 * burst of gunfire and screams* they ambushed us, killed the Commander and the Tesla when one of the plants dragged them into a pit *more gunfire* we're holding our own, but I don't know how much longer we'll last. Take this you green S. ! *loud explosion* There goes my last grenade. Hurry! I want to see the surface before sundown!"

"We've got the data."

9 and 66 ran into the caves and soon found the passage where the remnants of the other teams had holed up.

He swiftly found the acting Commander. "We need to charge across the cave before they get behind us."

The acting Commander pointed to the large cave chamber they would have to charge over.

9 got a good look at it for the first time. Hundreds of holes covered the floor, where the spore plants had dragged people to their deaths. Spore carriers would appear from one before they were gunned down. Soon enough one of the spore plants poked its maw out of a hole and unleashed a blast of acid into the face of the acting Commander, who dropped to the floor, dead in seconds.

He yelled to the survivors. "Our only hope of suvival is to reach the far side of the cavern. I've downloaded to data into all your Pip-boys so if anyone makes it, the data gets out. Any grenades left?"

No one produced any.

"On my signal, we charge."

9 lowered his hand and the charge began. The survivors, all 11 of them, lept over the rock formations they had been taking cover behind and ran forwards, guns blazing. One tripped and fell into a hole. Another had his head torn off by one of the plants. A third was pounced on by a spore carrier and torn to shreds. The couple of meters felt like miles to the Lobotomites. They fell, one by one, but eventually 9 and 66 made it to the door. No one else did.

A wave of spore carriers charged towards them. 66 motioned for 9 to go.

* * *

The view switched from 9's helm cam to one that was obviously 66's.

He raised his Incenerator and fired repeatedly, cutting down what seemed like hundreds of the green tide. Eventually he heard the dull _putt _that signalled he was out of ammo.

He reached down to a small red trigger on the side of his armour.

* * *

22 paled. "He... He diddn't do that? Did he?"

Shepard asked, curious about 22's reaction, "Do what?"

"Set off the failsafe."

"What failsafe?"

"The fail safe that prevents the fusion reactors that power our armour from overloading."

"You mean he..."

"He immolated himself and everything inside that vault."

* * *

66 pulled the red trigger. As he did, he said "Rot in hell you green bastards."


End file.
